Milbank LLP represented Crédit Agricole CIB, BNP Paribas, Natixis CIB and SMBC, as coordinating lead arrangers, in connection with a $1.2 billion construction-to-term loan financing to fund Copia Power’s construction of the Harquahala Sun 1 and Harquala Sun 2 solar plus storage projects (“the projects”), which will annually produce 450 MW of solar power and include a 300 MW/1200 MWh battery energy storage system. The projects — the first two phases of Copia Power’s Harquahala Sun complex — are expected to be completed in early 2025.
The financing is one of the first structured with a non-recourse tax credit transfer bridge and term loan takeout, leveraging the flexibility provided by the IRA’s tax credit transfer provisions rather than the more traditional tax equity and term loan takeout. This construct provides the projects with the ability to optimize the monetization of tax benefits while providing long-term capital structure flexibility.
Copia Power is a Carlyle-backed renewable energy platform in the business of developing, constructing and owning large-scale infrastructure assets in the US to accelerate decarbonization in all areas of the economy.
The Milbank team was led by Global Leveraged Finance partner Marcus Dougherty and Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Tim Wendling, along with associates Huanbo Zeng, So-Young Kim, Deepak Gore and Michael Robinson.
